


𝐔ncorrupted

by JKDiamondGold



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Zexal
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, How Do I Tag, I Also Created This Ship, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, No. 96 Deserved Better, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Violence, Post-Canon, Rating May Change, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn, We don’t talk about the puppet thing, Will add the ‘relationships’ tag when we get there, but in the fic we will bring up the puppet thing, but you can prob still guess pretty early on, i don’t know what i’m doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22919323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKDiamondGold/pseuds/JKDiamondGold
Summary: “A storm is coming.”To his surprise, the other managed to crane his neck enough to peer a better look at him, head lolling weakly once their gazes locked.“...that is another human term.”The prisoner’s dry, unimpressed tone made his lips pull until they showed teeth. “Yes, but I meant it literally. Rogue chaos has been spreading over the world in the recent weeks, accumulating more severely until managing to cloak itself in a fierce tempest.”“I don’t...” The chained figure’s throat constricted like he was suppressing a cough, voice rough and weaker. “...see why I should care.”“The storm is on a warpath set to reach our city within the coming days, empowering me with more Chaos, and offering the perfect distraction for me to break you out of here ~So I certainly hope you learn to care, and quickly.”
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. ~ 𝐏rologue ~

— ☀︎☽ —

Beyond the gaze of the color-stained glass, the danger did not seem near quite so frightening. One might have even called it beautiful.

That particular observation struck a chord of melancholy beneath the being’s chest, nestling in an invisible pit at his center, and leaving behind a greater feeling of hollowness. Such a wistful outlook regarding The Storm was a perspective which did not originate from his own being, not truly.

_It had been taught to him, by someone else._

In truth, based upon the reports given by the _Will of Astral World,_ any level of ‘beauty’ possessed by the ethereal cloudburst was quickly thrust aside in favor of _fear_ in the perception of the citizens. Each day, the horizon grew darker with the approach of the rogue chaos energy, a glance out any viewpoint in that direction was a reminder of impending destruction, a better countdown than any clock could compare.

Though still miles off, groans of thunder trembled in the floors of their pristine city, crimson lightning jumped between sky and earth in the undertow of the storm, and could be seen even from here. From a distance, the rain fell from the clouds in thick layers, giving the storm an appearance of ghostly, hanging arms. Dark tendrils lazily sweeping the ground and dragging behind the head of the tempest.

A comparison which brought Astral up from his deep musings and back to the matter at hand.

“It is taken care of?” A gentle feminine voice lilted to his ears, pulling the envoy’s attention towards the west end of the corridor.

Spine straightening, Astral inclined his head in confirmation when Enna stepped out from the shadows to approach him. The swishes of her long skirt carrying down the hall in faint wisps when she drew near, and her features held a polite smile.

His eyes did not stray from their locked position on the storm, “Yes. Though I must confess, I would have preferred to simply end it once and for all.”

“An understandable caution, given your history.” It was spoken more as an afterthought, her gaze, too, directed outside as liquid pellets began to softly hit the panes.

A tender hand suddenly pressed to his shoulder, following a lull of quiet as they watched the rain, “Be at ease, savior. This time is not like the others you attempted in the past, he will not harm you or those you care for again.”

Astral shifted, hovering lower towards the floor, the tips of his feet brushing the soft, short bristles of the carpet. Enna dropped her hand.

“Eliphas is waiting on us.”

He suspected as much, “I will join you in a moment.”

In his periphery, he saw Enna curl her fingers over her left wrist, hesitating beside him silently for a few beats, though eventually moving back in the direction she had come.

Astral did not turn, favoring watching the blur of water racing downward on the glass in wavy streaks, relishing the muffled sound of it padding on the clear crystal surface. He let his eyelids flutter closed, pressing a palm against it, feeling the cold become warm beneath his touch and cloud around his hand with perspiration.

It reminded him of home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, the first two letters in my writing-alias don’t stand for 'just kidding’.
> 
> I know that has absolutely nothing to do with this chapter, or this fanfic, or why you’re here, in fact I would say there is a good 80% chance (if even that low) that you didn’t even look at the name when you clicked to come in here.
> 
> I just wanted to clarify. I’m not saying this for you. I am saying this for me. This is for me.
> 
> I am not insecure.
> 
> I am not just rambling random nonsense in the notes under the deceiving security of a mindset that no one is going to read this so I can thereby say anything I want with no consequences.
> 
> And no, I will not say what the ‘jk’ actually stands for.
> 
> If a fic is published, and no one reads it, then I don’t even exist. Neither does my name. You’ve been bamboozled.
> 
> Anyway. I know it’s short, but I am still finding voice for the story, and it’s a prologue so I can hopefully get away with it. Until next time!


	2. ~ 𝐌orningtide ~

Inexplicably, the suggestion had been a _bad_ idea. 

A hindsight which Enna had warned of for a number of days, but Eliphas did not feel he could be assigned blame for the way it’d been _received_. Such a reaction still legitimately baffled him. 

The plague of melancholy which kept a vice-grip on the envoy had long since grown _tiresome_ amongst the council, a meeting could hardly pass before the messenger’s eyes would wander faraway from their discussion, occasionally acquiring a glisten and leaking down his cheeks. 

Eliphas was not above admitting that he himself had been in an especially foul mood since daybreak, finding various small things _aggravating,_ when such trivial matters wouldn't usually bother him. _The stress of the foreboding situation taking its toll,_ he supposed. So when, in the very middle of reviewing the updated damage report, Astral began to disassociate and his face start crumbling with negative emotion, Eliphas may not have been the most _gentle_ with his interjection. 

The topic was breached with Eliphas loudly inquiring over the tower and its residents playing hosts to the upcoming ‘party’, which was first met with confusion on the original’s part. Astral questioned what he was referring to, and Eliphas went on to explain the approaching date they had saved to hold an event in Astral’s honor. A celebration, admittedly long overdue, of the defeat of Don Thousand and the smiting of threats long posed against their home world.

Of all the ways Eliphas might have guessed Astral would take this news, _aggression_ was one he could safely say he never anticipated. After throwing an array of surprisingly venomous objecting hisses back at the Will’s face, the smaller creation had exited in a mild fury, leaving a stunned and silenced Eliphas to watch him disappear.

This all followed by the quiet clap of their second viceroy’s palm meeting her forehead. 

Honestly, Eliphas did not know why he’d been so thrown off his guard by it all, that was precisely what he'd always known to come from extending kindness to beings of chaos.

Absolutely _nothing_.

The idea behind the celebration wasn't even _his_ , which made the envoy’s attitude towards the Guardian all the more frustrating. The Astrien people had been begging for an excuse to properly express their gratitude and reverence for the savior of their world, and amidst the intensity of the new threat, and chaos-illness being on the rise from the storms, one could clearly see they all needed a distraction.

_So what was the problem?_

“Have peace, Eliphas.” The voice touched his ears like a cool stream, flowing through the rest of his body and easing his muscles. He hadn’t known he’d been so tense. 

“Am I to believe you know what ails Astral to this unnecessary extent?”

“Don’t be harsh, he is struggling.”

“We are _all_ struggling. Each day, the storm draws nearer, more are exposed to its effects—”

“And more are healed just as quickly.” Enna interjected. 

She meant well, but Eliphas received her words too pointedly to allow his mood to lift, teeth bearing with a dirty scowl. 

_“…Has he returned?”_

“Yes.”

No wonder the Will felt so foul, his own subconscious had been bracing him for yet another conversation with that degenerate.

“Would you like me to bring him here?” The female offered.

“He should have come immediately to give his report.”

“Eliphas…”

“Curse this— _fine_ . Yes, fetch him, but make sure he understands the gravity _ignoring our rules_ before he steps foot before me.”

Enna had no response and simply began moving towards the stairway in long, quiet strides. The rustling of her dress echoing softly, until the Will’s voice overpowered it once more.

“He is _lucky_ to be alive, but if such disrespectful behavior continues, that can be easily remedied.” 

  
  


— ☀︎☽ —

  
  


In the hours he found himself free to do so, Astral preferred frequenting the sanctuary.

Though staff would come in sometimes to freshen the carpets, or add glow to the hovering crystal which lit the room, the envoy normally found himself alone there. A definite mercy, and an unfortunately rare one as of late.

The chapel was almost entirely bare, housing little more than some cushions to kneel on for prayer, and a shelf of sacred texts, built from a large reconfigured cogwheel. The envoy supposed it was no secret why he felt so drawn to it. A mere glance into the mantlepiece’s golden sheen and suddenly, in his minds eye, he was no longer in a chapel, but on an _airship_ . 

The windows of the room, a collection of the same stained glass of blues, purples and pinks to be found anywhere else in the tower, scaled up high from the floor. Shining the light of day through to cast colored reflections into the floor. At least, that was its intended design, but their world’s sun had been swallowed by the storm for nearly a season now.

Astral’s fingers slid down the spine of a book nestled in the shelf, the darker binding standing out against the stark paler colors of its close-knit neighbors. 

An imaginary sensation of deep fog settled over him. 

_A celebration._

He sighed. 

It had been a mistake to allow emotions to overwhelm him in front of his superiors, the heat of the moment must have driven him to a short madness. It was not so much that the idea itself had been a shock, and Astral should have felt flattered that his people, and the viceroys, wished to honor him with such a generous gesture. 

He _should_ have felt flattered. Humbled, even.

Astral was so lost as to why he _didn't._

Worse, he had reacted in an unforgivably childish fit that would certainly result in a reprimand before his next mission. Eliphas was unhappy enough with his behavior without Astral kicking it up a notch by lashing out for no apparent reason. 

Lifting his hand from the brittle touch of the book’s cover, Astral gazed at it more closely, turning his wrist over with a nearly accusatory scrutiny. _“What could be wrong with me?”_

“ _Oh, little one~_ we don’t have near enough time to unpack all of that.”

The messenger’s heart sprang against his ribs, clutching at his chest out of pure protective instinct and whirling around.

Another being was at the sanctuary’s threshold, their shoulder weighing against the frame in a lazy ease. Astral swallowed, and cringed at the audibleness. 

The other’s skin was variegated, almost prismatic in appearance. Colors of red, black, and white stretched over him in different highlights and shadows. An energy akin to that of fire surrounded the newcomer as well, ebbing in slow, angry waves from his body. 

For a moment, the familiarity and terror of seeing the other rendered Astral completely immobile, focus blurring as a memory arose from the deeper reaches of his memories. Of a time when he had lost control, felt a wound in his heart unlike any pain he had known existed. How he let it overpower him, fed the darkness his hurt and anger, let it fester until his sanity became misshapen.

The envoy experienced these flashbacks like a soldier recalls horrors of war, remembering deeds done on the battlefield which should have never returned home.

This being standing before him was, quite literally, the encapsulation of all the things Astral hated of what he was capable of. What he had almost done, once. 

“Evening, _savior_ ~” The drawl was low, growled out in a _rumble,_ startlingly similar to the very one caused by the malicious lightning storm crawling towards them from the horizon.

Astral made an effort to keep his own position stoically unaffected, arms folded and legs crossed, disallowing any indication to his erratic pulse, or the remnants of shakiness initially brought on by the other’s sudden appearance. 

He was a mirror, one that depicted the ugliest parts of Astral’s past, the parts that made him wish to _not_ go back.

_“Hello, Eclipse.”_

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has always kind of baffled me how Astral World was depicted as like this cool-toned, marble-column filled, crystal paradise where everyone wears flow-y robes and long thick dresses -
> 
> And then like they also are the ones behind the creation of the Different Dimension Airship, which is just _full on steampunk_. 
> 
> So I headcanon that they had some certain furniture pieces, though possibly rare, which are styled similarly. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks a bunch for reading, and a great big extra thank you to the lovely people who have enjoyed and left kudos on this story already! They are always a nice thing to see in my notifications!  
> Until the next chapter - which will be less exposition-y!  
> ... I hope. >->;


End file.
